In attempts to get healthier children in Lenoir County, the school is hoping the children will eventually make better eating choices because they’re growing their own food. Contentnea-Savannah was chosen by the Lenoir County Obesity Task Force because of its K-8 status. The group felt the school — because students remained there as long as nine years — offered the ideal opportunity for tracking the program’s success.

By introducing students to unusual vegetables and showing them how and where food grows, Contentnea-Savannah is hoping the gardening program will improve their eating habits, making them healthier in the long run.

“When they begin to see those things grow and maybe sample them in the classroom, then they’re going to know it doesn’t just come from a can of Green Giant,” Pennington said of her class. “It’s going to make them try new things.”

Hands-on learning is the driving force opening the students’ minds.

“We want to let them see where the food is coming from other than the grocery store,” said Project DIG coordinator Jeannie Holmes; Holmes is the wife of Free Press Editor and Publisher Patrick Holmes. “We hope that they will be able to share that with their families and make better choices when they get home.”

She regularly visits elementary classrooms to introduce them to basic gardening concepts and fruits and vegetables they may have never seen before — yard-long string beans, pink pumpkins and white carrots.

As the overall anti-obesity effort remains a work in progress, so it is with Project DIG Still to be finalized is the curriculum tying the gardening program to instruction on nutrition and the most effective means for tracking the project’s effectiveness.

Holmes said it could take up to five years to track the children’s body weight and healthy eating progress.

There is still a long list of supplies on the program’s “wish list,” which is part of the Project DIG display in the school lobby. The project, still in its opening stages, has been built from donations.

An Eagle Scout and a parent volunteer built the raised beds — which cost up to $100 each — and the lumber, plants and compost were donated.

Page 2 of 2 - “This is like Phase 1,” Holmes said.

K-5 children plant in the raised beds and grades 6-8 plant will tend the row garden. Teachers facilitate visits to the garden at their discretion, sometimes using it as a treat for students.

Apparently, some children are already making real-world connections from their gardening project, which applies math and science lessons.

Holmes said a group of fifth grade girls cut their string beans open at lunch and recognized the seeds inside.

Another young boy said they should sell the vegetables they grow and put the money back into the project.